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Theme parks are unfairly made scapegoats, and the Health and Safety Executive show time and time again that their priorities are completely skewed and utterly inconsistent.

The problem with Health and Safety’s attitude towards theme parks and fairs can be pigeonholed into two categories.

Firstly, the fact that compared to almost every other industry sector, theme parks are over regulated when you take into account the fact that visiting a theme park is just about the safest thing you can do. More so than staying at home.

An example would be the fact that in the UK you can be jostled around on a crowded London Underground platform where trains enter and leave at speeds of up to 35mph with no protection between you, the train or the 630-volt live rail.

Meanwhile, the modern roller coaster normally moves at walking pace while in the station, has at least two operators who are able to stop the train and guests held behind air gates. Health and Safety expect nothing less.

Of course, those examples are fairly broad. Let’s look at contradictions within the industry. Sitting comfortably? Then let’s begin.

Remember being told to ‘clunk, click for every trip’? – well, the use of seatbelts on coasters is inconsistent, often unnecessary, and poorly implemented.

Look no further than Legoland Windsor’s Jungle Coaster for examples of how the airline-style seatbelts are completely unnecessary and inconsistent when compared to other similar rides.

Why unnecessary? With individual lap bars and individual high-backed seats, the rolling stock on Jungle Coaster is just about the safest you can find on a Wild Mouse. Need examples? Well, there are many to choose from, including and not limited to Project X – Test Track, which our more astute readers will realise is an identical ride with identical cars and an identical height restriction. There’s just one difference... no seatbelts.

The fact that the very same ride runs in notoriously over-the-top America without seatbelts, and in fact the world over, is a good example of just how disproportionate our health and safety laws are.

Contradictions abound, with rides like Rattlesnake, a Maurer mouse at Chessington World of Adventures, having two-across seating and lap bars, being far more aggressive than Jungle Coaster, yet not having seatbelts.

Of course, the height restriction (1.4m) reflects this to a certain extent, but I believe to a certain extent it would be justifiable (if not necessary) to add seatbelts to Rattlesnake over Jungle Coaster even if only to allow shorter riders on. In Jungle Coaster’s case, I simply cannot see how there can be any valid argument whatsoever when identical rides in similar environments to the UK have run without accident for years.

In fact, on this very subject, Drayton Manor’s Managing Director made a good point:

“If a German ride is accepted in Germany and all over the world why should HSE and others ask for more regulations to come to the UK, it is daft and not needed. After all a Mercedes is not altered by country for each country surely”

The car comparison is interesting, because it highlights how theme parks are unfairly victimised, and over-policed when visiting a theme park is safer than flying. 

While we’re on the subject of Germany, let’s look at probably one of Germany’s finest exports – the Break Dance.

Built by German manufacturer Huss, and a staple of the German fair circuit, this monstrous ride can seat anything up to 48 riders in 24 cars on a large 60ft-wide turntable.

There is a walkway around the entire ride and you can stand just a couple of feet away from the fast-moving platform with a stripy line being the only thing between you and certain death.

Despite this crowded mêlée around the ride, and despite the heightened adrenaline of potential riders waiting to ride, there is a subconscious understanding that you are standing next to an unwieldy machine and respect goes hand in hand with this understanding.

You see, in Germany, adults are treated as adults. As the ride slows, these same people make their own call as to when is safe to get on the ride. The ride is still moving when literally a hundred people jump onto the platform with the often-fruitless objective of finding an available car.

But what happens if you get on too early and fall over? Well, you get up and try again. We’re dealing with fully-grown adults here, and they can look after themselves. Continues...